On this day in:

1070 The Birth of Roquefort Cheese: According to legend, a young shepherd left his rye bread and sheep's cheese in the cave of Combalou to pursue a shepherdess. Later when he returned to the cave, he discovered his meal covered in a blue-green mould. He tasted the cheese and was delighted. Roquefort cheese was born.(Roquefort trivia & facts)

1845 Hatch's sowing machine for wheat, oats and other grasses was first demonstrated.

1872 Robert Chesebrough of New York patented a method for making Vaseline.

1895 African American inventor Joseph Lee patented a machine for "bread crumbing." It was intended for use by restaurants to crumb large quantities of bread scraps.

1916 Gaylord Nelson was born (died July 3, 2005). Former U.S. senator and governor of Wisconsin. He founded Earth Day in 1970, and helped spawn modern environmental activism. (see Earth Day: April 22).

1936 (Sources vary: 1936 or 1937). Sylvan Goldman ran a successful chain of grocery stores, where customers could carry hand baskets while they shopped. In 1936, when he was a major owner of the Piggly-Wiggly supermarket chain, he invented the shopping cart. He got the idea from a wooden folding chair. He designed the cart by putting a basket on the seat, another below and wheels on the legs. He and a mechanic, Fred Young put one together with a metal frame, and wire baskets. The frames could be folded up and the baskets stacked, which took up less storage room. Customers were reluctant to use this new contraption, so Goldman hired fake shoppers to wheel the carts around pretending to shop so people could see how useful the cart could be!They became a hit, and he formed a new company to manufacture the carts. It is hard to imagine a supermarket or discount store without shopping carts today.

1974 The Cleveland Indians were playing bad, and fewer and fewer fans came to watch them play. They had a ‘Ten Cent Beer Night’ to bring out the fans. Only 22,000 fans turned out in a stadium that could seat 60,000, but they made up for the low numbers by becoming so drunk and unruly, going on the field and disrupting the game, that the Indians had to forfeit the game to the Texas Rangers.

1980 Earle McAusland, publisher/editor of Gourmet magazine died at age 89.

2003 Martha Stewart stepped down as head of her media empire hours after being charged with conspiracy, securities fraud etc.

2007 Vincent Sardi Jr. died. He operated the famous Broadway restaurant, 'Sardi's' for 50 years. He retired in 1997.